Anonymous
03/09/2026 09:09
Subject: TJ sports vs. academics
TJ being sports focused is a total joke. TJ sports is mostly recreational, more about fitness and team building than any sort of competition. Only kids good with academics can afford to allocate time for sports. It is hard to enjoy sports when sitting on a ton of Cs and Ds.
Anonymous
03/08/2026 21:59
Subject: TJ sports vs. academics
3 season 
Anonymous
03/08/2026 21:55
Subject: TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Students who entered TJ with a sports-first mindset realize by the end of freshman year or at the latest by mid sophomore, that they can’t continue to allocate prime evening hours to sports if they start out with a shakey standing in academically. Especially true for team sports.
In fact, more students involved in sports have transferred back to their base school than those from any other extracurricular activity. TJ academic demands don’t offer the same flexibility that base school gen ed provides for competitive sports participation. Coaches reiterate as well - take care of academics first.
My kid is a 3 season athlete and I don't think he knows a single kid on one of his teams that transferred back. So not sure that your logic here stands.
Anonymous
03/08/2026 21:53
Subject: TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Students who entered TJ with a sports-first mindset realize by the end of freshman year or at the latest by mid sophomore, that they can’t continue to allocate prime evening hours to sports if they start out with a shakey standing in academically. Especially true for team sports.
In fact, more students involved in sports have transferred back to their base school than those from any other extracurricular activity. TJ academic demands don’t offer the same flexibility that base school gen ed provides for competitive sports participation. Coaches reiterate as well - take care of academics first.
This sounds made up. Do you have a cite?
The common wisdom at TJ is that the kids in sports do better than average.
Mostly because of the forced time management and the fact that if they start slipping on grades sports generally get abandoned so there is a survivor bias.
Anonymous
03/08/2026 21:50
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If a TJ kid goes to VT and a non TJ kid goes to MIT, is the latter more prepared for grad school?
The MIT kid will be better prepared for grad school.
Just as the TJ kid will be better prepared for college.
As an aside TJ has sent 29 students to MIT in the last 4 years.
AFAICT, no other FCPS school has sent more than 3 in that time.
Wow. So a high school full of STEM-focused students sent a bunch of them to a college of STEM- focused students. That’s amazing.
Yes, TJ sends more students to MIT than the rest of FCPS combined.
Anonymous
03/08/2026 21:40
Subject: TJ sports vs. academics
Students who entered TJ with a sports-first mindset realize by the end of freshman year or at the latest by mid sophomore, that they can’t continue to allocate prime evening hours to sports if they start out with a shakey standing in academically. Especially true for team sports.
In fact, more students involved in sports have transferred back to their base school than those from any other extracurricular activity. TJ academic demands don’t offer the same flexibility that base school gen ed provides for competitive sports participation. Coaches reiterate as well - take care of academics first.
In fact, more students involved in sports have transferred back to their base school than those from any other extracurricular activity. TJ academic demands don’t offer the same flexibility that base school gen ed provides for competitive sports participation. Coaches reiterate as well - take care of academics first.
Anonymous
03/08/2026 19:15
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If a TJ kid goes to VT and a non TJ kid goes to MIT, is the latter more prepared for grad school?
The MIT kid will be better prepared for grad school.
Just as the TJ kid will be better prepared for college.
As an aside TJ has sent 29 students to MIT in the last 4 years.
AFAICT, no other FCPS school has sent more than 3 in that time.
Wow. So a high school full of STEM-focused students sent a bunch of them to a college of STEM- focused students. That’s amazing.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 12:07
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid is a junior at TJ and fall/spring varsity athlete and my observations are similar to what others have shared. Grades are good (As/some Bs) but she is also not one of the kids gunning hard for an ivy. For her, the (non-academic) benefits of sports are the physical/mental health boost and connection with teammates. There is not just one path to take at TJ and if your kids wants to play a sport, they can always try and then step out.
Sports also seem to function a bit differently at TJ than other base schools. It's not uncommon for kids to skip practice/games if they have a huge test. If I had done that in high school, I would have been benched for a week.
TJ sports is more like an extended PE class, no serious participation. Academics are given top priority, every coach reiterates that.
This is *completely* false. Especially when it comes to team sports.
+1 Academics are given top priority but not to the exclusion of sports. Kids are expected to become more efficient so they can do sports and study.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 12:06
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid is a junior at TJ and fall/spring varsity athlete and my observations are similar to what others have shared. Grades are good (As/some Bs) but she is also not one of the kids gunning hard for an ivy. For her, the (non-academic) benefits of sports are the physical/mental health boost and connection with teammates. There is not just one path to take at TJ and if your kids wants to play a sport, they can always try and then step out.
Sports also seem to function a bit differently at TJ than other base schools. It's not uncommon for kids to skip practice/games if they have a huge test. If I had done that in high school, I would have been benched for a week.
This is the case at TJ for some sports, but certainly not others.
I am sure it is not every kid on every team but I have not heard of a team where a kid is at least occasionally missing practices or even games to study for a test or to finish college applications. What teams do not have kids missing at least practices to study from time to timew?
Anonymous
03/07/2026 12:03
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If a TJ kid goes to VT and a non TJ kid goes to MIT, is the latter more prepared for grad school?
MIT and Caltech have always been the lone two exceptions to the fairly ironclad rule that "TJ is *way* easier than undergrad".
Substitute Princeton for MIT and the answer is almost definitely "the TJ kid is more prepared".
Princeton is also considered pretty high rigor without grade inflation.
Anonymous
03/07/2026 11:11
Subject: TJ sports vs. academics
My kid graduated a couple years ago so don't know how much has changed, but they were a 3 sport varsity athlete, played club for main sport and got mostly As. They also got recruited to play their main sport at a T10. They were also incredibly self-motivated and managed their own time.
Anonymous
03/06/2026 16:41
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid is a junior at TJ and fall/spring varsity athlete and my observations are similar to what others have shared. Grades are good (As/some Bs) but she is also not one of the kids gunning hard for an ivy. For her, the (non-academic) benefits of sports are the physical/mental health boost and connection with teammates. There is not just one path to take at TJ and if your kids wants to play a sport, they can always try and then step out.
Sports also seem to function a bit differently at TJ than other base schools. It's not uncommon for kids to skip practice/games if they have a huge test. If I had done that in high school, I would have been benched for a week.
TJ sports is more like an extended PE class, no serious participation. Academics are given top priority, every coach reiterates that.
This is *completely* false. Especially when it comes to team sports.
Anonymous
03/06/2026 16:41
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:My kid is a junior at TJ and fall/spring varsity athlete and my observations are similar to what others have shared. Grades are good (As/some Bs) but she is also not one of the kids gunning hard for an ivy. For her, the (non-academic) benefits of sports are the physical/mental health boost and connection with teammates. There is not just one path to take at TJ and if your kids wants to play a sport, they can always try and then step out.
Sports also seem to function a bit differently at TJ than other base schools. It's not uncommon for kids to skip practice/games if they have a huge test. If I had done that in high school, I would have been benched for a week.
This is the case at TJ for some sports, but certainly not others.
Anonymous
03/06/2026 16:39
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:If a TJ kid goes to VT and a non TJ kid goes to MIT, is the latter more prepared for grad school?
MIT and Caltech have always been the lone two exceptions to the fairly ironclad rule that "TJ is *way* easier than undergrad".
Substitute Princeton for MIT and the answer is almost definitely "the TJ kid is more prepared".
Anonymous
03/06/2026 14:13
Subject: Re:TJ sports vs. academics
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kid is a junior at TJ and fall/spring varsity athlete and my observations are similar to what others have shared. Grades are good (As/some Bs) but she is also not one of the kids gunning hard for an ivy. For her, the (non-academic) benefits of sports are the physical/mental health boost and connection with teammates. There is not just one path to take at TJ and if your kids wants to play a sport, they can always try and then step out.
Sports also seem to function a bit differently at TJ than other base schools. It's not uncommon for kids to skip practice/games if they have a huge test. If I had done that in high school, I would have been benched for a week.
TJ sports is more like an extended PE class, no serious participation. Academics are given top priority, every coach reiterates that.
This is not universally true.
If you are a legitimate state level competitor or better, you take it pretty seriously.
These are hooks.
A state level competitor is NOT a hook, per se. How the student performs anywhere makes him or her recruitable. A kid could elect to not to HS sports and still be recruited D1